Often it's kids who get to have all the fun - but John Bitmead's creation could change that.

A mechanic has created a full-grown version of the red and yellow Cozy Coupe - which cost him a whopping £35,000.

John spent five months transforming a Daewoo Matiz into a life-size version of the children's toy - and copied every detail from the yellow roof, to glassless windows and even an over-sized drinks holder.

Although the toddler's version is run on foot power, his two-seater can reach 0-60mph in just 17 seconds.

It has an 800cc engine, runs on unleaded petrol, has a single airbag and a top speed of 70 mph.

John, who created the car with help from his brother, Geoff, and friend Nigel Douglas, said: 'I love setting myself a challenge, and once I'd got the idea in my head I was determined to see it through.

'We were chatting one day about how more people have probably driven a Cozy Coupe than any other kind of car - and it snowballed from there.

'Since making it, we've taken it out on a few trips, and people can't believe their eyes when we come driving down the street in this red and yellow toy car.

'We took it on the motorway once, but I'm too scared to do it again in case we cause an accident - people were taking photos of us driving past at the wheel and swerving all over the place when they saw us drive past.'

Nigel, who is managing director of Attitude Autos, near Bicester, Oxon, where John and Geoff are mechanics, said: 'We tried to create our version of a classic car. We saw so many of them in people's front gardens, we thought it would be great to make one for grown-ups wanting to relive their youth.

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'We'll take on any challenge - the weirder the better. We set up the company to make unique bespoke vehicles for film, television and photography, and hopefully, we might be able to use this car to raise some money for charity too.

John, 48, took apart a Daewoo Matiz to create the car - and the trio estimate it's cost more than £35,000 in parts and man hours to create it.

John worked for more than 1,000 hours on the project - working on the bodywork for 150 days straight.

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He said: 'I thought a Matiz was the most similar in shape to the Cozy Coupe, we just needed to chop the middle out to make the dimensions correct.
 
'It was really important to me to get the details exactly right - the ignition is even a big button, and we created all kinds of moulds to get the steel roof and unique seat shape exactly right.
 
'I wear a helmet when driving it, not because I need it, but because it gets fairly windy with no windscreen.'